


After Umbara

by lobsterfeet



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: But it's not graphic or anything, Other, but not like, graphically or anything, i mean people get shot, there is some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-07
Updated: 2016-06-07
Packaged: 2018-07-12 22:51:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7126462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lobsterfeet/pseuds/lobsterfeet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based off of this: http://medickix.tumblr.com/post/144335970182/dorano121-dogma-headcanon-because-dammit<br/>It was originally posted by dorano121.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Go To The Light

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Dogma Headcanon](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/204325) by dorano121. 



> Thank you to queseyo for beta editing!

After the whole Krell incident Dogma was on his way back to Kamino. They had told him he was going to be “reconditioned”. Dogma was under no illusions about what this meant. He knew they were going to kill him.  
Although he was branded by the Republic as a traitor, his brothers seemed to hold no resentment. At least, those who knew what Krell was like. That was the major difference between Dogma and the pilot of his ship. The pilot didn’t know what it was like to serve under Krell, so being stuck together in the small ship with only each other was awkward.  
The pilot, who had introduced himself as “Bird” was either hostile or just very quiet. He never said much to Dogma, mostly just sitting at the controls and checking readings. The one guard, Morse, tried to talk to Bird, but never succeeded. Over Felucia everything changed.  
When they came out of hyperspace the small ship was mobbed with droid fighters. Bird and Morse struggled for awhile before Morse gave up and said, “Might as well make yourself useful.” as he undid Dogma’s binders and motioned him to the other gunner’s seat.  
Dogma didn’t do much good before alarms began to blare. “Shit! They’ve hit us!” Cried Bird, quickly switching on the radio. “Get over here Morse! We need to send a signal!” Dogma tried to listen in on what the guard was saying as he struggled with the guns.  
“Orion! Orion this is Sirius! Do you read me?” The only answer to Morse was static, he tried again, “Orion! This is Sirius. I’ve been hit over Felucia. I repeat, we’re going down over Felucia. Do you read me?” Again, only static and the sound of fierce blaster fire. Bird swore again as he turned to Dogma and Morse, “Buckle in. This is gonna be a rough landing.” These were the last words uttered before the descent to the planet began.  
The alarms kept blaring and Dogma kept firing at the incoming ships, but eventually all of them had to focus on more important things. The ship began to shudder as it hit the atmosphere trailing smoke. The shuddering increased and a bright light surrounded the ship. It grew brighter and brighter the closer to the planet’s surface they got. Dogma blacked out before they hit the clouds. 

 

The twisted wreckage of a ship lay at the end of a long gouge in the Felucian landscape. A fire was burning near it, a small glow lighting up the many colors in the alien trees. Beside the fire sat two soldiers, and beside them lay another soldier.  
Dogma sighed and looked down at the man he had dragged from the now charred ship. Bird had not woken up since the crash that afternoon, so the prisoner and his guard had started a fire to keep them both warm. Suddenly their companion shifted and made a small noise.  
“Bird?” Asked Dogma, shifting closer. Bird was silent. Dogma removed his companion’s helmet. Under it the pilot was pale, with his eyelids fluttering. Oh no. Thought Dogma as Bird shifted again, moaning louder. Dogma looked toward the ship, desperately trying to remember where the med kit was stashed. As he was standing to retrieve the evidently needed supplies Bird lifted his head a fraction of an inch.  
“Morse?” He asked, voice hoarse.  
“He’s here.” Dogma knelt down.  
“Got my leg crushed Birdie. You got a nasty bang on the head.” Said Morse.  
Bird touched his forehead, “am I… bleeding?”  
That’s when Dogma noticed the thin trail of red slowly dripping down the pilot’s head. “Yeah… looks like you are. I’m just gonna run and get the medkit, I’ll fix you up, don’t you worry.” Dogma said, and as he was leaving for the ship he thought he heard Bird mutter, “oh no I’m not worried at all.” But he wasn’t sure.  
When Dogma returned the pilot was unconscious again. He dropped the med bag down next to him with a satisfying plop, then started rummaging through it. He pulled out several hypos before his medical training kicked in. Granted, it had been awhile, but he made absolutely sure he was going to inject the right thing into Bird’s neck before he did. Morse sat stoically staring into the fire.  
“Sorry I’m so useless.” He said.  
“It’s not exactly your fault.” Replied Dogma, cleaning Bird’s head.  
“Still… I wasn’t even supposed to be on this mission. I’m a radio technician.” He sighed.  
“Really?”  
“Really. And now I’m guarding a high security prisoner… who then had to save my life. I guess I- we owe you that.” Morse sounded guilty.  
“What? Your lives?”  
“Yeah. You saved us!”  
“I was just helping my brothers. It’s what you’d have done.” Dogma finished cleaning Bird’s head and opened up a suture pack.  
“What’re you doing now?” Asked Morse.  
“Sewing up the wound. I don’t want him to get even sicker, and I think he’s lost a lot of blood.”  
“Ugh. I don’t know how you stomach it. I never took field medicine. It was too messy for me.”  
“And not too useful for a radio tech I imagine.”  
Morse laughed, “no, it isn’t… not until now that is.” Morse’s face pinched as Dogma put in the first stitch, he turned his head away. After Dogma was done with Bird he moved over to Morse with a hand scanner.  
“That’s not gonna do much good.” He said, “I already know what’s happened. I’ve crushed it.”  
“Well I’ve got to know how to set it, so I’m going to see where to move your leg.”  
“Wait you’re gonna set it? Doesn’t that,” Morse swallowed, “hurt?”  
“Yeah.” When Dogma said this Morse paled, “but I can give you some painkillers,” he added quickly. The scan finished and Morse sighed,  
“Let’s get this over with then."  
Even with the painkillers Morse still screamed when Dogma wrestled the bones back into place and bound them straight with some sticks and bandages. Dogma let Morse sit for some time while he made sure Bird was alright, and after that he made Morse sleep as he watched the fire burn itself out.


	2. Contact

“How’s it going?” Dogma asked.  
Morse broke his strict concentration for a moment, “haven’t been able to get anything out. Seems that we got pretty fried breaking through the atmosphere.” For the past three days Morse had been trying to fix whatever radio parts he could find. Nothing seemed to work.   
Bird was able to walk, if unsteadily, and Morse had started using his rifle as a sort of crutch. Dogma was the only one able enough to go about finding food and water. When he returned from his latest trip Bird and Morse seemed to be arguing quietly. Their conversation was cut short when the radio crackled to life. Morse jumped in surprise.  
“Sirius. This is Orion. I repeat, this is Orion. Do you read me?”   
Bird hurried to the transmitter, “This is Sirius. We’re receiving loud and clear Orion.”  
“Do you still have the prisoner?” Morse held a finger to his lips, pointing at Dogma. Bird shook his head.  
“Sirius, are you reading me? Do you have the prisoner?”   
Bird sighed, “haven’t seen him since we crashed Orion .”  
Dogma’s eyes widened in surprise. Morse gave him a simple smile.  
“We’re coming to get you Sirius. We’ll be there in twenty minutes.” The crackling voice drifted over from the radio.  
“Alright Orion. This is Sirius, signing out.”  
“Orion out.”  
“What was that?” Blurted Dogma.  
“You saved our lives. We owe you something.” Said Bird, glancing at Morse, “the whole thing was his idea. Don’t you go thinking that I’ve got a soft spot for you or anything.”  
Next Morse spoke, “We both want you to get away. You don’t deserve to die, not after this.”  
“T-thank you…” Dogma hardly knew what to say.  
“There’s no time for that. You heard what Orion said. You should go now.” Bird interrupted.  
“There’s a spaceport a couple klicks away, that direction,” Morse pointed east, “you’ll be able to get a ride off this rock there.”  
“I can’t… I don’t know what to…”  
“Don’t. This is our way of thanking you. Now run!” Bird said, but his voice didn’t sound hostile. It felt concerned. So, with one last glance at the two brothers who had most likely saved his life, he turned and ran into the trees.  
“Morse, I swear. Someday you’re going to get us killed.” Muttered Bird.  
“You’ve got to lighten up brother. Besides, nobody’s gonna tell him that it was your idea to let him run.” Bird could’ve slapped the smirk off his brother’s face, but instead he just stood there, watching the place where Dogma had disappeared. 

 

Dogma ran all the way to the spaceport. It was like most spaceports he had been to. It was crawling with cantinas and pilots who made their money in… not entirely legal ways. Now Dogma had to find one of these pilots, because now they were the only people who could help him. He sighed and headed for the first cantina he saw, still breathing a little heavy from his run.   
Inside it was dark, the only illumination coming from hidden blue lights. There were many different kinds of beings, and Dogma threaded through them to try and find a place where he could observe the room. Near one of the far corners he picked up a conversation.  
“I’m telling you! I paid every cent!” Came a voice.  
“Oh no you didn’t. I counted. You owe me big my friend.” Said another voice.  
“No I don’t. I took what I considered my cut.” Replied the first voice.  
“Aha! So you did take some!” The second voice was triumphant.  
The first voice sighed, “Yeah, so? What’s a little miss like you gonna do about it?”  
“I think you forget, I’m the captain, you’re the copilot.”  
“I’ll be going now Volka. Have fun with your new reputation!” The owner of the voice exited the room facing Dogma, who didn’t get half a glance at him before a blaster bolt rang out.  
“I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere dear” The second voice belonged to a short being whose features were obscured in the darkness. Dogma startled.  
“Oh hello there!” Said the being.  
“Hello…” Replied Dogma.  
The being stepped closer, holding out its hand, “Name’s Indari, Indari Volka.” They shook. Dogma thought the hand was unusually warm.   
“Pleasure to meet you, I’m Dogma.”  
“Sorry you had to witness that little unpleasantness there Dogma. Jaris has been on my nerves for some time. He thinks that I’m not good at my job. The light knows why.”   
“Well, Volka, I couldn’t help overhearing that this Jaris was your copilot. I happen to be looking for a job and…”  
Indari smiled, “You’re hired.”


	3. Le Loup-Garou

When they exited the cantina together Dogma got a good look at Indari. She was shorter than he was, her head about up to his chest. Her skin was darker than his, and seemed to glow in the sun against her orange flightsuit.   
They entered a large landing area, in the middle sat a good sized ship. Dogma noticed with a twinge of horror that it seemed to be a kind famous for its ability to be modified… and because of this was routinely used by smugglers.  
Indari turned around grinning, “I present to you, The Lupa II.”

Inside the ship it wasn’t too different from most republic ships, and Dogma had been inside plenty of smuggling ships when he was on raids. He sat across a small table from Indari.  
“So have you ever flown anything before?” She asked.  
“Not really… I’m a pretty good gunner though.” Dogma replied.  
“I prefer a stealth approach. The guns don’t get much use. Usually we do more fancy flying.” Indari replied, making swooping gestures with her hands.  
“Well people tell me I’m a fast learner.”  
“Good. Your first lesson is now.” Indari didn’t seem to register the fear in her new copilot’s face when she said that. 

Dogma smiled at the memory as he retold it as a message to Tup months later. Helping out on the Lupa II was now almost as natural to him as his blaster. Almost. He still always got airsick when Indari did her fancy maneuvers.   
Life on the Lupa II wasn’t all bad though. Aside from the occasional malfunction of the shields, life was quiet. Indari seemed to prefer in and out jobs. She was quick and efficient, often complaining that the world didn’t move as fast as she did. She seemed to run everywhere, and always played music. Dogma thought it was funny when she mouthed the words of songs he didn’t understand.   
Just as Dogma hit send Indari entered his cabin. She raised an eyebrow as she asked, “what’re you doing?”  
“Sending a message to an old friend.” Dogma replied.  
“Oh?” The way she said it made it clear she wanted more information, but wasn’t willing to articulate a specific question.   
“His name’s Tup. We were in the same company. I just thought I’d see how he was.”  
“Ah. I see.” Indari grinned, “when you’re done sending love letters I’m about to start negotiating with some pirates who think that they can cheat me. You’re welcome to join whenever you want.”   
“Yeah that sounds good.” Replied Dogma then, “hey wait I wasn’t” But Indari was already gone. 

One day Dogma didn’t receive any replies. He brushed off the feeling of dread. Tup was probably busy. The next message, however, made his heart plunge to his feet. He sat down hard in the copilot’s chair as he read the first line of the message.  
“Dogma,  
This is Fives. You’re probably wondering why Tup hasn’t replied in a couple days. Or not… whatever. From what I can tell you’re having fun flying around with this ‘Volka’ person. And Tup usually replied to you pretty quick huh? Um anyway, I thought you should know… something weird happened with Tup. He uh… he shot a Jedi. We don’t know what went wrong but something in his head snapped. Kix thinks it might be battle fatigue, but again we aren’t sure. I’m heading to Kamino with him to do some further research. I’ll keep you posted.  
Fives out.”  
“What is it?” Asked Indari.  
“My friend shot a Jedi. He’s headed back to Kamino.”  
“Did he send the message?”  
“No. Another friend of mine did. Things are weird. I’m worried about them.”  
“Is there anything I can do to help?”  
“Just… I need something to do.”  
“I know just the thing.”


	4. Heads off to the Republic

When the two landed Dogma smiled. He knew exactly what Indari had in mind. They both hated the markets, but they offered a good opportunity to mess with people neither of them liked. Every now and then they would come here when one was feeling down and steal things. It was sort of a game now, the bigger the prize the better. It started out with small things, like buttons, then escalated to bigger things, like weapons, and then finally to black market materials.  
Dogma scored the first prize. He nicked a small golden trinket from a merchant’s table while the man was haggling with another. Indari sighed when he showed it to her. “Upped it to gold already have we? Well, I’ve got something for you then.” And she pulled a small delicate looking blaster from a hidden pocket in her vest. Dogma shook his head and faked a frown.  
“You’re saying I’m escalating the game too quickly? Alright, watch this.” He walked up to the man he had stolen the trinket from and smiling, took a large blaster from the table and walked back to Indari. He did it with such purpose that the seller didn’t even notice it was gone until the two were already lost in the crowd.   
Now it was Indari’s turn. She grinned at Dogma as she approached a battle droid from the back, cleanly taking its head off before it could alarm anyone.   
“Why did you do that?” Asked Dogma.  
“Their parts are very valuable. These things fetch a high price on the black market.” She replied.  
Total that day they ‘kidnapped” around forty of the droids. Taking off, both of them felt some sort of accomplishment, although different kinds. Dogma still felt like he had helped his Republic by getting rid of some of their enemies, and Indari just liked the image of confused Separatist commanders wondering where the droids had gone.   
Just when both were feeling confident they hadn’t gotten caught exiting Separatist space they were stopped. “Just our luck,” muttered Indari, “we escape the Seppies only to be caught carrying these things in Republic space. Why can’t we just sign a peace treaty and let smugglers be smugglers?” Dogma almost laughed at Indari’s words until he heard the voice on the ship to ship comm.   
“This is the Republic ship Fjoublar. We request identification.”  
“This is the Lupa II, to whom am I speaking?” Indari replied.  
“This is Captain Rex speaking. We are scanning two life forms aboard your ship. Please identify your crew.”  
“It’s just me.”  
“Just you?”  
“Just me and… my… dog.” Dogma gave her a mad look.  
“Your dog?”  
“We’re very close.”  
“What are you carrying?”  
“Um… repair parts.”  
“May we come aboard to search your ship?”  
“Can I say no?”  
“By Republic law you must be boarded and searched for contraband and illegal goods.”  
“Sorry dear. That’s not gonna happen.” Indari said. Dogma almost threw up as she rolled the Lupa to go under the other ship. Later he would say that the maneuver was not worth the pretty price they got for the droids.   
“That was a close call.” Muttered Indari.  
“I still wish you hadn’t done that.” Snapped back Dogma. They flew the rest of the way to Coruscant in silence.

Rex was annoyed. He knew “smugglers would be smugglers” but that didn’t make their flippant ways of disobeying orders any less annoying. He thought of ordering a chase, but the ship was already out of range by the time anyone reacted. A trooper came up to him.  
“Uh sir?” He asked.  
“Yes? What is it Morse?” snapped Rex.  
“Sensors are picking up non republic radio frequencies farther along the border. Might I suggest we keep moving?”  
“Tell the pilot to get this bird going again.” Replied Rex. He almost felt bad as he watched the radio technician scurry away. Maybe he had reacted too harshly. These mundane patrol runs always made him snippy and short tempered. Not to mention he lost a smuggler obviously carrying something dangerous and illegal. Rex sighed and turned back toward the bridge, preparing himself for the next person to try and get away with something.


	5. Totally Legal Research

For months Dogma heard nothing from Fives or Tup. They had simply disappeared. Indari tried to cheer him up, but every day without a message made him sink deeper and deeper into worry. At one point, Dogma was checking his data pad so obsessively for emails that Indari took it away from him.   
Today, Dogma was thankful that Indari had gone out for supplies and to see some friends. He was alone on the base, the data pad sitting on the table. He tried to focus on anything other than the data pad. After running all the maintenance checks, Indari still wasn’t back, and the need to check for messages overcame him.   
Dogma jumped a little as the data pad dinged, a new message. He thought as he clicked it open. Instantly he knew something was wrong.  
“Dogma.  
Tup and Fives are both dead. I don’t trust the official diagnosis. Will stay in contact to give you further details on their causes of death.  
-Rex”  
Dogma stared at the screen. Tup and Fives were dead. Rex hadn’t said how they’d died, but from the tone it sounded suspicious. He read the message over many times before replying,  
“Rex,  
How did they die? Why don’t you trust it?  
Dogma”   
And with a shaking hand, he pressed send.

The next time the data pad dinged Dogma shot up to get it, knocking past Indari in the cockpit. “Where the hell are you going so fast?” She asked, annoyed.  
“New message!” He yelled back as he came back in holding the precious device.   
“What’s so important about that?”   
“I don’t know yet.” Said Dogma as he sat down to read the message.  
“Dogma.  
Remember Krell? How he was working for the Separatists? I have a feeling something like that’s going on here. I’m going to try and figure it out. I will need your help. You in?  
-Rex”  
Dogma smiled.  
“What does it say?” Asked Indari.  
“Do you want to spy on some Jedi?” replied Dogma.

Indari wouldn’t lie. She loved being up high and staring at all the little people below. However, if she was perfectly honest, she wasn’t too excited with the prospect of spying on anyone. That was precisely why she had made Dogma do the surveillance job. She was at the library doing a lot of semi-illegal research. What she was doing was only semi-illegal because whatever she couldn’t find in books she would find by hacking into the library data systems to search those. Being at the library had the added bonus of having library data pads, which meant that she could use them and they couldn’t be tracked back to her. With this confidence Indari sat down with a stack of holobooks and computer spikes.  
Meanwhile, Dogma was arranging a meeting with Captain Rex, conveniently on Coruscant for leave. Dogma had covered up his telltale tattoo with some clever makeup trick Indari had devised. The paint, the same color as his skin felt strange. He felt like he had a second face that would crack at any moment.   
Rex sat uncomfortably in 79’s waiting for Dogma. He held a data stick of everything he had been able to legally get. He jumped as a clone sat down across from him.   
“Rex.” Said the man.  
Somehow Rex knew who it was, and replied quietly with the man’s name, “Dogma. Long time no see eh?”


	6. Semi Illegal Research

Indari was making no headway. The books were vague, and only contained short snippets of information. She had asked the considered asking the librarian for help, but had second thoughts. Stray questions might make the woman suspicious. 

She sighed as she sat down at one of the terminals and plugged in her first spike. Accessing the library files wouldn’t be difficult. What Indari was worried about was… exactly this. Here was a reference to the document she wanted. Right there, just sitting on the screen. The only problem was, it was heavily encrypted. She sighed and got to work trying to get the file open.

 

The two clones exited the bar and walked around the back to a quieter spot. The stood beside each other and looked out at the city for a while before Rex broke the silence.

“So. How did you end up here?” He asked.

“What do you mean?” Came Dogma’s reply.

“You were bound for Kamino for recommissioning. You’re supposed to be dead. What happened?”

“My transport got shot down. I saved the two other guys there, and they felt they owed me something. So they let me run.” Rex made a small humming noise and Dogma continued, “I ran all the way to the nearest spaceport, where I met Volka, the girl I work with now. She hired me as her copilot. We’ve been watching each other’s backs ever since.”

“So this Volka?”

“She’s nice. And a damn good pilot. Just… a little fancy. Her flying makes me sick sometimes.” Dogma chuckled.

“Sounds like she’d like general Skywalker.” Said Rex, also laughing a bit. The two stood in silence for a moment more before Rex continued, “I’ve got all the information I could get on the malfunction. They say it was in chips- in our heads- designed to inhibit increased aggression. But… Tups malfunctioned and he shot a jedi general, and then Fives went mad because he said he’d found the truth about the chips.” Rex shook his head, “I thought he was crazy at first, but now I’m starting to think he was onto something.” 

“Well, let’s see what you’ve got.”

 

Indari was getting increasingly frustrated. Damn file. Damn war. Damn copilot. Damn everything. She sighed again and radioed Dogma, “Come in Spike, this is Jerry.”

Dogma picked up immediately, “Those are the best codenames you could come up with?”

“I’m short on time. The library’s closing soon, so I’m gonna take what I can and go. Any progress with the captain?”

“He’s got some documents for us. I’ll head back to the Lupa now and wait for you.”

“Sounds good. Jerry out.”

Dogma sighed before responding, “Spike out.”

 

Dogma lead Rex through a maze of streets and alleyways to where the ship was parked. His companion called out a greeting through a door, and a young human lifted up her head from where she was fixing something on the ship. 

“Dogma! You’re back!” Looking past him she said, “And this is the captain?”

Dogma nodded. “Indari Volka, meet Captain Rex.” He said, and they nodded to each other.

Once inside the ship Indari opened up Rex’s documents on the ship’s computer. As she silently sat there scanning through things both of the clones sat awkwardly on the edges of their seats. Finally her eyes lit up.

“Here. Here’s what we need.”

“What. What is it?” Asked Dogma.

“Rex you’ve brought us something beyond value.” Said Indari.

“What did you find?” Asked Dogma again.

“A communications file. It’s still saved in the database, and it’s heavily encrypted.”

“How does that help us?” Asked Rex.

“Nothing else on these discs are even close to this guarded. Besides, few of the others have keywords matching my search. We’re gonna need a communications specialist on this one. Decrypting this is beyond my computer skills.”

“I know where we can find one.” Replied Dogma.

 

“I told you, I’m a radio technician, not a communications specialist!” Said Morse, for the fourth time. 

“Can you decrypt these files?” Asked Dogma eagerly.

“Well yes of course-”

“Do I have to order you?” Asked Rex.

“It would look better for me when I get court martialed.” Muttered Morse as he sat down to the terminal and began to type. 

An hour later they had the documents they needed. Morse stood and stretched. Rex stopped his pacing, Indari paused her music, and Dogma stood with his former guard.

“Well, you can access those communication files easy as anything now.” Morse said simply, and then, “Captain, we should be getting back. They’ll be wondering where we are.” 

“You’re right Morse. We should go.” Rex then turned to Dogma, “thank you Dogma, you’re a good man.” And with a salute, the pair left. All the way back to the barracks all Morse could think was “ _ Bird is gonna kill me when he hears about this.” _


	7. Very Illegal Research

The communications file lead them to the location of the chips removed from the now dead clones. The stealing was relatively easy for them. Indari did some technological wizardry to keep Dogma hidden as he stalked through the base to get them. Getting them off the world was going to be harder. 

The pair sat in the cloaked ship watching rain hit the windshield. Getting through the blockade was easy, just needed the right codes and you were in. Getting off world however, not so easy. They needed access codes to avoid triggering an alarm as they left the platform. Indari had been working on these codes for hours, but to no avail. Dogma sat in the chair next to her looking at the chips inclosed in glass plates. 

Dogma sighed as night began to fall. He didn’t want to spend more time on this miserable rock where he had been brought up and trained for longer than he had to. Finally he heard the telltale signs of victory, namely Indari leaping up, hitting her head on the ceiling, and swearing loudly. 

“Come on Dogma! Let’s get out of here!”

 

Once they entered hyperspace Indari set about analyzing the chips.  _ Sure, they’re biochips, but they’re still hackable. I’ve just got to find the information I’m looking for.  _ She thought. Indari took a deep breath, and began typing in sequences to her data pad. Finally she found access to the computer part of the chip. “Huh.” She said.

“What is it?” Asked Dogma.

“The chip’s not encrypted at all. I can just read through all of the code.”

“That’s weird.”

“I- I think it might be because they didn’t expect anyone to get here. The only people supposed to find this code would be people who knew where it was, and were supposed to see it. Lucky for us I guess.” Indari cracked her neck and began to read through the code. “By the light, you clones are imbedded with a lot of weird stuff.” She said, halfway down the code.

“Like what?” Asked Dogma.

“These are all things that make computers recognize voice commands. It’s the same kind of tech they use to make voice-activated missile launch codes. So like, if I say, ‘Ship, play music’” Here the ship responded, “playing music, dear” in its mechanical voice, Indari then continued, “it plays music, so see, it recognizes my voice and the command. In this code there are a bunch of things like that.” She fell silent again as she continued to read down. When she reached the bottom she looked up at Dogma.

“Well. That was unexpected.” She said.

 

Morse was nervous. He had never come to his captain with a personal matter such as this before. He didn’t want to sound disrespectful, or be too awkward. 

“Sir?” He said shakily.

Rex turned around, “Yes Morse. What can I do for you?”

“I… I’ve got some news. About…” He cleared his throat, “about some recent events. Might I speak to you in private?” Morse didn’t miss the slightly confused look on the captain's face as they walked to Rex’s cabin.

“What do you have news about?” Rex asked.

“Dogma sir. He’s contacted me with a message for us. I didn’t want to tell you in front of everyone… as… well, I’m not sure how legal what we’re doing is, sir. I don’t think we’re supposed to be investigating this type of thing on our own,” Said Morse before adding quickly, “not that I disagree with it sir. I just don’t want to be court martialed.” 

“I understand Morse. Now, can you play the message?”

“Yes, of course sir.” Morse opened up a small holo projector. When he pressed a button a hologram of Dogma came up. Volka stood right behind him.

“Hello. We’ve just finished reading the code on the chips we stole from the Kaminoans, thanks to your intel. There are several things we found, but I’m no computer expert, so I’ll let Indari tell you everything.” Dogma said. 

The hologram of Volka stepped forward, “These chips, although made of biological material, are essentially computer chips. I was able to read their code, and as Dogma said, found some disturbing things. Probably the most worrisome is at the bottom. Its title is Order 66, and is activated by a voice command. The scary thing is what it’ll make anyone with the chip do. When the authorization code is said, it activates the Order, which is … some kind of massive kill order. Probably to kill high-ranking republic military leaders,” Here she paused, and Morse and Rex each looked at each other with wide eyed astonishment. Then Indari continued, “in comparing the chips of troopers Tup and Fives we found that the malfunction of Tup’s chip was directly related to its decay. Fives didn’t go mad. He just found out that the whole system was broken. Now we don’t know the full extent of what your friend Fives found. We still don’t know how many clones have the chip, or when the chips are inserted. And, since computers rely on code, there’s nothing that tells us who has voice authorization. The sound is programmed into the software, but it’s hard to translate out of code to match the voice. I would recommend removing these mind control chips. I’ve got a feeling our whole world is gonna be turned upside down real fast because of these things if we don’t control them.” When she finished Dogma stepped forward again. 

“I’ve already got mine removed,” he said, holding up a slide, “the procedure for removal is in some documents we found, which we’ve sent to you if you’d like to remove yours as well. I wish you the best of luck. Call us if you need us.” Then the hologram went blank. Rex and Morse stared at each other for a second before Morse hurriedly opened up the document with the instructions on chip removal.

 


	8. Five(s) More Minutes!

Dogma groaned as his comlink beeped. It was so late. So kriffing late. All he wanted to do was sleep. It had been all he wanted to do since sending the message to Rex and Morse about the chips. 

He rolled over and hit the answer button on the com. “This is Dogma.” He said, still half asleep.

“Dogma. It’s Rex. Morse got arrested yesterday because he took out his chip.”

Dogma sat straight up, “Morse got arrested? Shit Rex.”

“Yeah. Problem is, mine’s gone too. I don’t know what they’ll do when they find out I got rid of it.”

“Why did you call me?”

“Because you’re my ticket out of the GAR. When can you be on Coruscant?”

“In an hour.”

“Thanks Dogma. I owe you.”

“You’re a brother. We help each other out.” Replied Dogma simply before turning off the com. “Indari?” He yelled to the main chamber where the captain was still awake, “We’ve got to get to Coruscant!” 

 

As usual Indari flew fast, so they got there quicker than expected. As they rocketed into the atmosphere Dogma got airsick with Indari’s fancy moves to avoid detection. This was another in and out job.  _ Just another job _ . That’s what they told themselves.

They met Rex outside the barracks and snuck him onto the ship. Once he was on board they moved the ship to a hidden little port. When they landed Indari turned around in her seat.

“So, where’ve they taken Morse?” She asked.

“Probably the main prison, but we’ll never get in there.” Said Rex.

“We’ve got to try.” Replied Indari with a small grin. Dogma shook his head. This was not going to be as easy as kidnapping droids or stealing the chips.

 

Bird hated being on night duty. Hell, he hated having to be on solid ground. He belonged in the sky, not sitting at a desk watching computer monitors. The doors slid open and he looked up with half lidded eyes, seeing Captain Rex standing there in all his armour made Bird panic. He got up so fast that the rolling chair slid out from under him and he fell before being able to pick himself up and salute.

“Sir. I didn’t know you were coming.” He said, with all the military precision he could muster.

“Bird. What’s a pilot doing playing prison guard?” Said Rex.

“Resources spread thin Sir.” He replied, “just protocol sir, but who’s with you?” He asked, leaning to look past the captain to see the two others with him. One was a human in a flight suit looking at him like she was studying a bug, which unnerved him, so he looked to the other. The man stood with a cap pulled low over his eyes, and looked down at the floor. 

“This is Captain…” His eyes widened for a moment and he looked back at the human.

“Captain Id.” She supplied, “And this is my copilot, A. Ohe.”

“Why are you here?” Asked Bird.

“We’re here to see Morse.” 

Bird looked confused when Rex said that, “Uh sir, might I ask why?”

“That’s… classified.” Replied Rex. 

Bird sighed, “Well, put your weapons in the holder and I’ll escort you to his cell.”

 

Morse sat on the cold metal floor of the cell, mentally berating himself.  _ Stupid, stupid, stupid. _ He thought.  _ Just listen to reason for once in your miserable life. Bird was right. I’ve gone and gotten myself in trouble.  _ He looked up sharply as the door slid open. 

Bird caught his gaze and then looked quickly away, which Morse was grateful for because he didn’t see the surprise in his face when he saw Rex, Dogma, and Volka. 

“Morse.” Rex said.

“Captain.” Replied Morse.

 

Bird started to leave the scene. He didn’t want to be there for whatever they had to say. He’d watch it on the security tapes later. Besides, he trusted Rex not to do anything rash. He turned to go when the lights caught the side of the man with the cap’s face. Bird gasped softly, “Dogma?”

The man lowered his head. “Dogma, that is you isn’t it?” Repeated Bird.

“Bird.” The man said, raising his eyes to meet the pilot’s.

“Why are you here?” Bird followed Dogma’s eyes toward Morse, still sitting in his cell. “Oh. You’re here to get him?”

“Yeah.” 

Bird caught Morse’s eye again and steeled himself, “How can I help?”


	9. So Uh... What Now?

When Morse heard Bird offer help he almost started laughing. Bird wasn’t the type of guy he’d think would help him escape from prison, but then again, he had let Dogma run. Out of the corner of his hearing he heard Rex say, “Come on Morse, let’s get you out of here.” 

Morse slowly stood and walked to the door as if in a daze. He climbed up the stairs and stared at Bird for a moment before pulling him into a tight hug. “I didn’t think you’d come back for me,” He murmured, pressing his forehead against Bird’s. 

Bird simply pulled away slightly. “We should get out of here. Any moment they’re going to notice I’m missing and check the security tapes.”

Indari nodded, her eyes shifting between the two. “Let’s get going then.” She said.

 

The group turned around to take a step and immediately alarms began to blare. “Oh yeah. Just a little in-and-out mission. Nothing too fancy. It’ll be easy.” Muttered Indari, “last time I listen to you, you airsick little-” 

“You can berate me later Indari!” Said Dogma, pulling her along. The group moved along the corridors quickly, and thanks to Bird’s knowledge of the facility, they got out a back door. “So,” said Morse, “where’s your ship?”

Dogma and Indari looked at each other, “Well…” started Dogma, “It’s… in this little out of the way hanger…”

“Cut to the damn chase man.” Interrupted Indari.

“It’s across the city.”

“Oh this is going to be fun.” Said Rex as they took off running toward a prison vehicle. 

Indari slid into the driver’s seat and started pressing buttons. Bird was a little annoyed. He could’ve flown the thing, after all, he was the one that worked at the prison. He sighed, and said nothing. 

When the speeder started up the Indari punched the accelerator, throwing everyone back into their seats. She drove fast, as usual, and managed to get lost in the skylanes before anyone could catch up. Dogma still got sick. 

When they touched down everyone ran for the ship. More buttons were pressed by Indari and Bird, with the others in the turrets; just in case. When they got into space without a scratch Dogma dropped down from his turret.

“See Indari? In-and-out.” 

“Shove an entire star destroyer up your-”

Here Morse entered and cleared his throat. “I’m sorry I’ve caused you all so much trouble, but I’d like to thank you for saving me. I don’t know what they would’ve done, but it can’t have been good.”

“Stop apologizing.” Said Dogma.

Bird grinned and punched his friend’s shoulder, “that’s two we owe him Morse.” They sat in happy silence for awhile before someone raised the question, “So… where to next?”


End file.
